Rs.1620 million to hold 97 Parliamentary sessions

May 24, 2017 

The Parliament in Sri Lanka has had only 97 sessions for the year 2016 but the expenditure incurred for the sessions is Rs. 1620 million say reports.

Accordingly, the expenditure to hold a Parliamentary session is Rs.16,695,884.57 reveals information released by the information office of parliament. The total expenditure to hold sessions for 2016 is Rs. 1,619,500,803.

It is said that there are 8 departments that are involved in the functioning of the Parliament and the monthly expenditure of the Parliament is said to be Rs. 134,958,400.25.

Despite spending so much public money the viewers who follow Parliamentary sessions on TV could see a lot of empty seats while sessions are being held and much time is wasted when the Speaker has to suspend sessions due to turmoil in Parliament.

Plantation Tamils need Administrative power first; political power next - Thilakaraj 

 2017-05-25

Nuwara-Eliya District Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) MP Mylvaganam Tilakaraj in an interview with the Dailymirror highlights issues confronting plantation-based Tamil minority and their aspirations. He shared the following:-   

Q As a politician from upcountry, how do you see the current political situation of the country?
Visibly, people are not satisfied. Ordinary people expect physical appearance of development in terms of bridges, roads etc. There is a lack of development. I must tell you the truth. However, expectations of people before two years ago were something different. There were bridges, roads, harbours and all. But, there was no democracy. Now there is democracy in terms of media freedom, proper use of executive and parliamentary powers etc. Those days, there was less work in Parliament. Everything was decided by the President’s Office. At present, a lot of activities take place in Parliament.  

PM Mod’s visit indicated and ensured that the Indian origin plantation minority also must be included in the Constitution and introduced a mechanism to solve the ethnic conflict. Moreover, he addressed our people in the presence of our President and the PM. He said that even though these people belong to Indian origin, they are Sri Lankans. This is a great recognition. 

Q    What have you delivered to people to ensure  better living conditions during the period?
By enacting the 19th Amendment, some powers of the executive were vested with Parliament. I am only an MP. But, I have the chance to discuss matters with the secretaries of various ministers at oversight committee meetings. There was no democracy for MPs to discuss during the previous regime. Another important thing is the enactment of the Right to Information Act. Information has to be declared to people. No room is left for behind-the-scenes activities. Apart from this, the Constitution making process is underway. We have the experience in this regard. In 1972 and 1978, only groups of individuals were making the Constitutions. Now, we have expanded the process to the general public. First, the Public Representation Committee was appointed. Then, Parliament was converted into a Constitutional Assembly.   

Q As a politician representing the plantation-based minority, how hopeful are you of a power devolution package for them in the Constitution making process?
This is a very good question. I was mentioning the processes in 1972 and 1978. In those days, there were Devolutions of Constitutions. During that time, we were deprived of our rights, including the right to vote. Now, we are in a position - not only to vote, but also to determine what we want. So, we have formed an experts committee. We had a lot of discussions in this committee formed by our Tamil Progressive Party (TPP). We are now trying to ensure our rights in the Constitution.   

My parents were plantation workers. I have given the address of this house as mine to the parliamentary authorities. From such a predicament, I studied and graduated from a Colombo University. I am the fourth MP from that particular estate

QWhat do you mean by “Our rights”?
We cannot deny the fact that we are people of Indian origin. If you look at history, all our ancestors had been of Indian origin. But, in our case, in the census report, we are registered as ‘Indian Tamils’, not even as ‘Indian origin Tamils’. We hate that form. Certainly I do not like to be called as an ‘Indian Tamil’ because I was born and raised here. We have lived here for more than 200 years. If you migrate to a European country and live there for five years, you will be granted with a permanent citizenship. But in Sri Lanka it is the other way round! We have been living here for more than two centuries and are still called as ‘Indian Tamils’! We have to establish our Sri Lankan nationality first. This is an important issue that need to be resolved first. 

Q So, you wished to be identified as ‘Sri Lankan Tamils’?
Yes. Some people ask for the difference between the Sri Lankan Tamils and the ‘Malayaga Tamils’ outside the north and the east. I would say whatever the positions they are holding now, they were fighting for separation. They wanted self-determination. They wanted to part ways from Sri Lanka as a separate nation. In our case, we are still fighting for our Sri Lankan identity. The difference is pretty clear.   

Q Have you submitted any proposals to that effect?
Yes, we have. We made proposals seeking constitutional recognition as ‘Sri Lankan citizens’ even though we are of Indian origin. We are called Malayaga Tamils. People in the north and the east are known as Sri Lankan Tamils. If our people do that so, we will be mixed up with them. We are located in the central hills and in the Uva. So, we are known as Malayaga Tamils or hill country Tamils. We are the pillars of the export economy here compared with those in the north and the east, we have a different cultural set up. We are living with the majority Sinhalese. We can communicate with them. We have a mixed culture with the majority. My name is Tilakaraj, but I am known to many as Tilak, which is a very common name among the Sinhalese.

We cannot deny the fact that we are people of Indian origin. If you look at history, all our ancestors had been of Indian origin. But, in our case, in the census report, we are registered as ‘Indian Tamils’, not even as ‘Indian origin Tamils’. We hate that form

QHowever, in upcountry we see the Tamil Nadu culture has made its impact. They watch TV channels relayed from TN. Then, how important is it for you to develop the traditional Sri Lankan culture there?
In our case, the Sri Lankan Tamil literature is identified in two aspects. One is produced by us while the other by the Tamils in the north and east. It has developed based on our working community. When you consider our drama, folk-tales etc, we have identical ones. Anybody can sing in our community because we have the folk culture. We have Tamil films that portray our working community. In fact, our leader Mano Ganeshan’s father V.P. Ganeshan was a film producer. He was known as the Sri Lankan MGR. The movie was about the upcountry Tamils, their lives and culture.

 
Q Apart from being recognised as ‘Sri Lankan Tamils’, what are the other areas that need attention?
We were ruled by the British and located within the estates. We made representations to Parliament in 1947. We had seven members under Soulbury System. Population wise, we were in the second slot according to the 1961 census report. When the country gained Independence in 1948, we did not get it. It was because we were deprived of our voting franchise. In 1964, our people were repatriated to India under the Sirima-Shasthri Pact. Then, in 1972, the British rule expanded its control not only over the estates but also over our society. We were differentiated from the government’s mechanism. Even now, the plantation health sector is not linked with the national body. Doctors are called ‘Estate Medical Assistants’. The government provides only medicine. All the entire system is run by the private sector. I have debated this with the Health Minister too.    In the education sector, still there is a division called the ‘plantation sector’ at the Education Department. Though we are taken to the government schools, the plantation education system is existent. Plantation education was introduced by the colonial rulers.  Housing is another issue. People still live in line rooms with 20’ x 10’ floor space with no adequate ventillation. 

We were asking for help from India. They provided us educational scholarships. I was also a beneficiary

I was born and raised in a similar atmosphere. My parents were plantation workers. I have given the address of this house as mine to the parliamentary authorities. From such a predicament, I studied and graduated from a Colombo University. I am the fourth MP from that particular estate. People have the aptitude to gain knowledge. But, they are being treated in a different manner. The other main issue is administration. If you take a Grama Niladhari, the ratio is 1000:1 (families) in other parts of the country. In some cases, you would find 120:1 (families) too. But in our case, the ratio is 3,000:1 (families)! There is no proper administration for us. We have to ensure that the administrative power is shared with our people.   

QHow happy are the plantation population with the present rule?
They are happy. Nationally as I said, it portrays a different picture. We have won the land rights for housing. We are building houses. We have developed 25 schools for education in the science stream. We have set the trend.   

QHow do you look at the political power sharing?
When you think about power devolution, you must think of administrative power and political power. In the north and east, they are fighting for political power. We also need political power sharing. In our case, we are even without administrative power. Without it, how can we get political power? We have to mark our administrative areas.  

Q Does it mean that you are seeking a separate administrative zone for your people?
Actually, we are suggesting the system that is existent in India. They have a system in New Delhi. We mean our non-contiguous areas. In Kalutara also, our people live. We have to combine all these non-contiguous areas. We have to be treated equally with other nationalities in terms of administration. When it comes to power devolution, we have to identify the administrative location and that zone only should be given political power.   

Q  There is a perception that the TPA was formed at the behest of India. Your comments on that.....
 No, actually we were together under Ceylon Indian Congress (CIC). It was formed in 1937. CIC later became Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC). The CWC flag reflects the features of the Indian flag. The CWC was running all the politics. From 1960s onwards, one leader from the CWC defected from the CWC and formed Democratic Workers Congress (DWC). It has now become a Democratic People’s Front led by Minister Mano Ganeshan. In 1955, the National Workers Congress defected from the CWC. It is now under the leadership of Minister Palani Digambaram. In 1985, late MP Chandrasekaran bowed out of CWC and formed the Upcountry People’s Front. What TPA now is the unification of all these three under one banner. We have a long culture of forming alliances.   

QWhat is the kind of political relationship you have with India at the moment?
It is very good. We are not responsible for coming here. I mentioned it to the British Foreign Office as well. We have been living here for over 200 years. The British only brought us here to work as labourers in the plantation sector. India had sent these people to Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) without any consideration. Our people started living in a new country as Indian Tamils. There is accountability to India to look after our political aspirations. 

We were asking for help from India. They provided us educational scholarships. I was also a beneficiary. We told them this should not be the way. We asked them to look at our living condition. Then only they agreed to give us 4,000 houses. We have been able to implement this project since our TPA became an ally of the government. 

QHow do you look at Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit? 
We are in the transitional period of political culture of this country, especially due to the proposal to making of new Constitution. The Tamil people who are living in the central and southern part of Sri Lanka were deprived of their citizenship during the previous Constitutional Reforms. 

PM Modi’s visit indicated and ensured that the Indian origin plantation minority also must be included in the Constitution and introduced a mechanism to solve the ethnic conflict. Moreover, PM Modi addressed our people in the presence of our President and the PM. He said that even though these people belong to Indian origin, they are Sri Lankans. This is a great recognition. It gives the plantation minority Tamils
‘Sri Lankan’ identity.

My Experience: How To Deal With Sexual Harassment, Glass Ceiling & Bullying At Workplace?

By Nalindrani Malimage –MAY 24, 2017

Nalindrani Malimage

My article is open to arguments, discussions and questions.

Most women become silent victims of harassment in workplace. Particularly, the women who may not have the backing of a family, any male or other political backing are seen, easy targets. In Sri Lanka, the importance given to diversity and law is very less compared to that of a developed nation. The purpose of my article is to help vulnerable females in identifying characteristics of glass ceiling and to guide them on how to handle it. Most women become silent victims of men who are suffering from low self-esteem, poor education/skills and the crippled mindset.

I will explain my experience as a fresh female graduate. I started my first job at a leading multinational company in Sri Lanka which has won many awards such as, Best Employer etc. I was left with three choices in hand and I picked the one with the highest learning potential based on the information I have received at the interview. The job was in marketing and my goal was to move into sales which is my passion. The job title was, “Research and Information Analyst” in which at the interview I was briefed on the job role as well as on the path of career progression.  However, my boss who was a great trainer left the organization shortly. I was without a boss for 3-4 months in which my teammate took the maximum advantage of harassing me intensely.

I was told in the first week of work by the teammate that marketing in the respective field is not for a female.  He also stated that if I wanted to be retained in the organization I need to move into another function to which I refused. As my passion was in marketing, hence I was sticking to the same field right throughout regardless of all the harassment, marginalization and bullying. Eventually I recognized that the teammate is adjusting my job role which would differ from what I was recruited to do so. He started continuously giving me the type of work I had no skill in or any interest in. In addition to this, I was not given any training by the teammate even though he was instructed to do so. As a result of the absence of training, if I make an error, he will ensure that the error gets noticed by the entire marketing leadership team instead of addressing my training needs. His objective was to ensure that I never get retained in the organization. Whenever I used to speak to him on the training needs, he would state that it’s on the job training but on the other hand he would train only the male fresh employees. I was insisting him to contact the previous employee for me to get training on the role yet he kept on ignoring. I was also bullied by him on my attire or the appearance which was harming my self-esteem at a large scale. Another form of harassment I experienced was that  the employees I was working with would take things from my personal life and attack me in my professional life. There was only one female employee who was retained in the organization but she had been in the organization for years yet never was promoted. She too kept on laughing at me taking personal things which was a form of bullying. In fact, supporting all the harassment, bullying and the glass ceiling, I further I realized every female employee who had been working in the particular department had left for some reason. The female employee who had been there before me I learned was to be an extremely talented employee but she has been subject to sexual harassment.  The teammate threatened me not to complain regarding the harassment and also he ensured that I never get to contact with the senior marketing leadership. He did this by telling the others that I am trying to “sleep with them” to progress in the career which I was overhearing. These comments embarrassed me and since I did not know how to handle the situation I kept quiet and distant.

Unable to bear with the harassment and the glass ceiling I decided to speak to the newly appointed HR manager when the teammate was not in the office. The discussion with HR manager with this regard was useless since he seems to be a good friend of the teammate at personal level. The HR informed that I will be given any type of work which could contrast with what I was recruited to do. He informed it is not a matter of choice. In seeing the strong personal network among the senior employees left me in a very helpless situation. The solution given by the HR manager was that I will continue to be trained by my teammate. I cried so hard and another female manager in Finance noticed me crying so hard in the washroom and instructed me on speaking the Director, HR. However, I was scared and did not speak up. As I was living alone and my teammate was continuously threatening me against complaining I decided to keep quiet. The teammate kept on insisting me to move to a different department stating no female will be retained in the department. 

The experience was deathly to the extent that I was diagnosed with severe depression and attempted suicide. The company doctor was aware of the situation and tried helping me. He once asked me if he can complain to the Director, Marketing for me but I was scared to speak up thinking how it could affect my personal safety since I was living alone.

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Sri Lanka police 'failing to stop anti-Muslim attacks'

Sri Lankan police are yet to make any arrests in connection with more than a dozen arson attacks against Muslims shops, mosques and a burial ground in the past month (AFP Photo/LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI)
AFPMay 24, 2017

Rights groups accused Sri Lankan police Wednesday of failing to stop a wave of hate crimes against Muslim businesses and mosques in the Buddhist-majority country.

Police are yet to make any arrests in connection with more than a dozen arson attacks against Muslims shops, mosques and a burial ground in the past month.

Prominent rights activist Victor Ivan said the inaction risked a repeat of anti-Muslim riots in 2014 that left four dead.

"Police are responsible for allowing this situation to continue by not taking action against the perpetrators," Ivan told reporters in Colombo, adding that an extremist Buddhist group was believed to be behind the violence.

Only property has been damaged so far in the latest spate of attacks.

The government said Wednesday the violence had been addressed in a cabinet meeting and police and security forces had been instructed to maintain law and order.

"The president directed the Inspector General of Police to instruct all officers in charge of police stations to be responsible for preventing such incidents," the government said in a statement.

The riots in mid 2014 -- led by a hardline Buddhist group -- were widely seen as the catalyst that led to then president Mahinda Rajapakse's downfall in January 2015.

Muslims account for just 10 percent of Sri Lanka's 21 million population and have emerged king makers in a country where the majority Sinhala-Buddhist community is split down the middle between two national parties.

SRI LANKA FREE MEDIA MOVEMENT ELECTS OFFICE BEARERS

24/05/2017

The 24th Annual General Meeting of the Free Media Movement was held on 23^rd (Tuesday) at the Auditorium of Sri Lanka Press Institute, where a new board of officials were appointed for the next year. The names of new officials are as follows;

·        Convener – C. Dodawatta

·        Secretary – Dileesha Abesundara

·        Treasurer – Ananda Jayasekera

·        Assistant Secretary – Lasantha de Silva

 Executive Committee

·        Lakshman Goonasekera

·        Seetha Ranjanee

·        Thaha Muzammil

·        Sunil Jayasekera

·        Udaya Kalupathirana

·        Sampath Samarakoon

·        Dhaneshi Yatawara

·        B. M. Murshudeen

·        Quintas Colombage

 Trustees

·        Chulawansa Sirilal

·        Saman C. Liyanage

Setback in Sri Lanka for China’s silk road

Author: Dániel Balázs, Tongji University-24 May 2017

China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) sets the bar high. It strives to connect Asia, Africa and Europe with the aim of achieving mutual development. Sri Lanka, with its valuable geographic position in the heart of the Indian Ocean, is a crucial participant in Beijing’s newest endeavor.

But China–Sri Lanka ties seemed to reach a low point when in January 2017 violent protests erupted in which people expressed opposition to an industrial zone project funded by Beijing. This turbulent and unpredictable bilateral engagement provides China a valuable lesson for building the Belt and Road.

China tries its best to convince the rest of the world that it is a fundamentally different kind of great power. This idea is partly underpinned by the ‘Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence’ that guided China’s post-1949 foreign policy. One of the core concepts of this engagement is non-interference with other countries’ internal affairs. A further pillar of China’s self-perception of being a benign great power is ‘win-win’ cooperation that is beneficial for all partners.

An archetypical manifestation of this thinking is the BRI. China’s proposal entails deepened financial, political, infrastructural, commercial and cultural ties between Beijing and the more than 60 other participants. The main idea is that China shares the fruit of its development for the sake of mutual progress. According to the official narrative, the BRI is not a geopolitical tool to extend Beijing’s influence and everybody is a winner under the novel cooperation framework.

Against this background, it is hard to believe that anything could go wrong. Yet in Sri Lanka — one of the BRI’s flagship participants — public discontent erupted in a violent protest. The case of Sino–Sri Lankan relations proves that if non-interference equates to an ignorance of domestic dynamics, then China’s hands-off foreign policy can cause more harm than good.

In order to make sense of the recent developments in China–Sri Lanka ties, one has to take a step back and look at the aftermath of the nearly three decades long Eelam War. The bloody conflict left Sri Lanka in ruins, forcing the little island nation to rely on external actors to rebuild itself. Sri Lanka’s post-civil war history has been chiefly shaped by the duality of the Beijing and Washington Consensus. While Washington’s helping hand comes with rigid conditionality, Chinese aid and investments seem to come with no strings attached.

In 2009, the civil war came to a brutal end at the hands of Mahinda Rajapaksa who subsequently became the subject of allegations of human rights violations, corruption and nepotism. Given its dubious reputation, the Rajapaksa regime quickly ran out of friends and the Beijing Consensus was a convenient and reliable source of funds. China–Sri Lanka relations reached new heights. Chinese signature projects such as the Mattala airport, Hambantota port and Colombo port city were built with billions of dollars of Chinese funds.

This engagement, also known as the ‘Colombo Consensus’, was indeed a win-win cooperation. Rajapaksa could rely on the steady flow of Chinese money to solidify his power and Beijing gained access to one of the most valuable geostrategic positions in the Indian Ocean.

All of this led observers to believe that Rajapaksa had cemented his power for a very long time to come. Yet such assumptions proved wrong. In a surprising triumph of democracy, Maithripala Sirisena, a former ally of Rajapaksa, gained power and became the new President of Sri Lanka in January 2015. The novel leader’s promises included a revision of ill-famed Chinese projects, including the Colombo Port City project, a massive initiative costing more than a billion dollars.

But it is hard to keep such promises once one is bound by legal contracts. Sri Lankan debt exceeds US$60 billion, more than 10 percent of it owed to the Chinese. Beijing was irked by the new government’s attitude and played hard during negotiations over the Hambantota Port project, squeezing out a deal that would have given China Merchants Port Holdings 80 per cent of the stakes in the project and control over the adjacent industrial zone covering 15,000 acres of land.

Now Beijing’s strongman approach has backfired. The new conditions of the Hambantota project met strong opposition from the Sri Lankan public. As a result, new negotiations started that decreased China’s stake by approximately 20 per cent.

The case of Sri Lanka leaves Beijing with one key takeaway that is worth pondering as it embarks on an initiative that covers the majority of the planet. While there is nothing wrong with the idea of not meddling with other countries’ internal affairs, it does not mean that Beijing should be insensitive toward the domestic dynamics of its partners. Simply channeling exorbitant amounts of money into other countries is not going to be enough for realising the New Silk Roads. The implementation of the initiative calls for something more — understanding and adapting to the internal processes of BRI participants.

Beijing has already burnt itself in Myanmar, Thailand and Laos, where the public is becoming hostile to Chinese projects. Like a chain, the Belt and Road is as strong as its weakest link and public perceptions toward China can become an existential issue for Beijing’s ambitious initiative.

Dániel Balázs is a recent graduate of International Relations at Tongji University in Shanghai. The views expressed are his own and do not represent the views of his affiliated institution.

Tear gas and high-pressure water cannons used on protesters

By Ayshwarya Yapa-May 24, 2017 

The participants of a protest walk against SAITM have been dispersed using tear gas and high-pressure water cannons near the flyover in the proximity of the Lotus Roundabout.

The protest walk that began in the morning today (24) was organized as a joint effort by medical students and their parents.

A heavy traffic congestion is said to have been created on account of the protest.

Sources reveal that an assembly of disabled soldiers has also taken part in the protest. The soldiers have reportedly arrived at the vicinity of the Presidential Secretariat Office on foot.

Manchester Carnage And The Need To Combat Terrorism & All Forms of Violence

By Laksiri Fernando –MAY 24, 2017

Dr. Laksiri Fernando

It is a wrong proposition to say that “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.” Terrorism should be defined or understood not in a subjective manner, but objectively. There can be grey areas when some incidents or historical facts are analysed, but that should not preclude us from achieving a common understanding of this horrible phenomenon and rejecting it as abhorrent to human civilization. The ‘fight for freedom,’ if at all, should not involve violence, let alone terrorism. Therefore, no terrorist should be any man’s (or woman’s) freedom fighter.

Motives

There cannot be any difficulty in identifying the suicide bomb attack in Manchester at the Ariana Grande Concert on the 23rd May as terrorism and the person who inflicted the attack killing himself, Salman Abedi, as a terrorist. In this single incident, 22 people have been killed and 59 injured. Many hundreds or even thousands are terrorised. I usually don’t like to quote Lenin on these matters but he once said, ‘the purpose of terrorism is to terrorize.’ It is an objective pronouncement.

The Islamic State (IS) group has claimed the responsibility for the suicide bomb attack. Therefore, there is a clear identification of the terrorist act with a terrorist organization. However, there are still speculation whether the suicide bomber was directly connected to the IS or acted alone, perhaps with a smaller group, of course inspired by the IS or similar ideology. The latter is the pattern that we have seen in many such attacks in Europe in recent time.

If such is the case, there is more reason to worry about the evolving pattern of ‘lone wolves’ as they may have ‘grievances,’ perceived or real. However, no grievance is a justification for violence, in my opinion, let alone terrorism.

Clash of Cultures?

The attack on Ariana Concert undoubtedly has a cultural angle. It was an event of Western pop music patronized by young women and men. It is also common to many other countries. It may be distasteful to certain ‘ethical,’ religious or cultural traditions, but in that case those people should not migrate or live in Western countries. Even if you don’t agree, you should be able to tolerate and respect the other.

It is because of this cultural angle, that many Western leaders and observers rightly consider these attacks as threats to their ‘way of life.’ This is an undeniable feeling. In many of their statements they also consider these attacks as ‘appalling, sickening and cowardice,’ expressing anger. Even in the most carefully worded statement of the British PM Theresa May on this event, these sentiments are clearly expressed. The US President, Donald Trump has called the attackers ‘evil losers.’ One cannot expect a different reaction. All civilized people should denounce this henious crime. However, the question is whether such statements would aggravate or alleviate the situation. I am here not referring to the IS, but to the ‘lone wolves,’ as many of them are citizens or even born in these countries. This is the situation even in the case of Salman Abedi.

Here there is a question whether too much of ‘social globalization’ has created this unnecessary ‘clash of civilization.’ Terrorists are terrorists, but no one is a born terrorist. Terrorists are created under the circumstances. If globalization was limited to economic, trade or technological aspects, without leading to exodus of ‘social globalization,’ things could have been more manageable. The worst has been the attempted ‘political globalization.’ The world is too complex to globalize within a short span of time.

The religious, cultural and political diversities are too vast in this world at present. There are countries which are reluctant to globalize for various reasons. Therefore, those countries should be left relatively alone to manage their own affairs. The attempt at effecting uniformity or ‘universality’ do more harm than good, as the recent history has shown since the war against Iraq and attempted regime changes in the Middle East. 

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As prisoners strike, relatives wait and hope

Palestinian family members hold pictures of relatives in Israeli jails, during a rally in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on 3 May, in solidarity with more than 1,300 prisoners who began a hunger strike on 17 April.-Atef SafadiEPA/Newscom

Budour Youssef Hassan-24 May 2017

On Friday, 12 May, Sumoud Karajah’s phone rang.

“Jamil Ankoush is fine,” a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC, said on the other end of the line. “He is on hunger strike and sends you his greetings from Shatta prison.”

No additional information was given, no explanation offered, and Sumoud’s desperate need to know more about her fiancé was hardly satisfied. But still, that one sentence was enough to bring the color back to her face. That Jamil, in this stage of his hunger strike, still remembered her number and gave it to the ICRC, “meant the world to her.”

“At least now I know that he is still alive and I know where he is being held, but also that he is thinking of me,” Sumoud, 29, told The Electronic Intifada. “When the Red Cross representative mentioned that they met Jamil, I shrieked in relief and delight. I think the entire village heard me scream.”

Jamil, from the village of Deir Abu Mishal near Ramallah, was seized on 7 October 2003. Twenty-one at the time, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison by an Israeli military court after being convicted of involvement in armed resistance and affiliation to a proscribed organization, in his case, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

He has participated in the mass hunger strike from the start on 17 April, according to Sumoud. Some 1,300 Palestinian prisoners are refusing food to demand basic improvements to their prison conditions, including access to public phones, air conditioning and heating and an easing of restrictions on the entry of books, clothing and food brought by relatives.

They are also protesting systematic medical negligence, solitary confinement, reduction in family visits and the common use of administrative detention, the draconian policy under which Palestinians are routinely held without charge or trial by indefinitely renewable military orders.

Cut off from the world

The hunger strike was first called by prisoner leaders of the Fatah political faction, with Fatah’s Marwan Barghouti, serving multiple life sentences, acting as the strike’s focal point.

But prisoners from all the main Palestinian factions are taking part despite divisions and disagreements over the timing and chances of success.

On 4 May, prominent leaders of the prisoners movement, including PFLP Secretary-General Ahmad Saadat, head of the Hamas prisoners leadership committee Abbas al-Sayyid, and Zaid Bseisi, an Islamic Jihad leader, reportedly joined the hunger strike.

The moment prisoners go on hunger strike, they are automatically isolated from the outside world and cut off from any communication, be it with their lawyers or families.

It took a petition to the Israeli high court by Palestinian human rights organizations to pressure the Israel Prison Service into finally allowing lawyers to meet with hunger-striking prisoners.

Former hunger strikers, Khader Adnan and Bilal Kayed told The Electronic Intifada that Israel uses a variety of methods to pressure prisoners to drop their hunger strikes.

Among the common tactics are transferring hunger strikers to other prisons or placing them in solitary confinement, in an attempt to cause divisions among strikers.

Barghouti has both been put in solitary confinement and transferred to a new prison during this strike.

Prison authorities also resort to psychological warfare and concerted media campaigns to delegitimize the hunger strikers.

Until that phone call on 12 May, all of Sumoud’s efforts to find even a sliver of information about Jamil had proven fruitless.

“Waiting for news on the hunger striker is like torture,” she said. “You live with your family, you try to remain calm, to go to work, to pretend you are strong, but your heart and mind are elsewhere, in a cell that you don’t know, with the person you love.”

A prison romance

Sumoud and Jamil have never met in person. Sumoud was imprisoned in 2009 after stabbing and slightly wounding an Israeli soldier at the Qalandiya checkpoint.

In his prison cell at Rimon prison, where he was then, Jamil saw the news and tried – and initially failed – to send her a letter in HaSharon prison where she was first held.

“In HaSharon prison you are only allowed to receive letters from your parents so none of his letters reached me,” Sumoud recalls. It was only after she was transferred to Damon prison in June 2010 that his correspondence made it through.

In the very first letter Sumoud received from Jamil he urged her to “stay strong, comrade. I am proud of you.” She did not reply because she did not know him and thought he might be an Israeli spy. Eventually, her brother told her that Jamil was a political prisoner and a fellow PFLP member, and their communication began in earnest.

“Our love was born in those correspondences. At one point, I felt that I was living with him in the same prison. I knew the smallest details about his life and he knew everything about mine,” Sumoud says. “My female comrades were thrilled for me because it was quite rare to witness a love story blossom in prison. They celebrated the arrival of every letter from him almost as much as I did.”

Sumoud was sentenced to 20 years in jail, but was released in October 2011 as part of a prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel in which more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners were released in exchange for an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas near the Gaza Strip.

In March 2012, Sumoud and Jamil were officially engaged – despite the misgivings of Sumoud’s family, concerned by his long sentence. Although now engaged, Sumoud is still barred from visiting Jamil in prison. He has pleaded with her to end their relationship because he did not want to force her to wait until 2023, the year of his scheduled release, but she is unflinching:

“I am certain that the moment will come and I will hug him and we will be together,” Sumoud said. “But now all I want is for Jamil to stay alive, for the hunger strikers to triumph and to hear his voice.”

But, she added: “I still have no idea what I will do when I see him. I will probably punch him in the face for putting me through all of this.”

Those left outside

Sumoud regularly attends the prisoner solidarity tent in Ramallah, to stand with prisoners’ families and draw strength from them. Mothers, sisters, daughters and partners of hunger strikers have always been at the forefront of the struggle to demand freedom and justice for their loved ones, and this hunger strike is no exception.

But besides leading solidarity actions, women have to fill the void left behind by the long-term imprisonment of their partners and to bear the responsibilities traditionally taken up by men.

When Majd Barbar, Fatimah Barbar’s husband, was imprisoned in 2001, their son, Muntasser, was not yet two years old, and Fatimah had only just given birth to their baby girl, Zeina, two weeks earlier. Majd and Fatimah both live in Ras al-Amoud, a neighborhood in the occupied East Jerusalem village of Silwan. They fell in love during the political actions and community events they organized together in Jerusalem.

“Our marriage came from a pretty special love story, but it was all cut short by Majd’s imprisonment,” Fatimah told The Electronic Intifada while looking at his picture. “I knew nothing about his involvement in the armed resistance so his arrest came as a shock.”

Majd worked as an electrician at a hotel in Jerusalem and was arrested at the height of the second intifada. Though he did not confess to any of the charges leveled against him, he was eventually convicted of forming an armed resistance group in Jerusalem and belonging to the PFLP, the left-wing Palestinian movement criminalized by Israel. Majd, then 25, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Fatimah, then just 23, was forced to raise the kids and make ends meet on her own.

“Raising two babies in the absence of their father is a truly difficult task,” Fatimah said. “I acted as their father, their mother and their friend, and the balance was not always easy to strike.”

Love, family and resistance

Majd’s imprisonment has left an enormous emotional burden on Fatimah, but their love continues to grow, she said.

“Not an hour goes by without me thinking of him,” Fatimah said. “As I speak to you, I imagine the moment of his release. I’ve scripted this moment in my mind on countless occasions, but I know that it will be more beautiful than anything I‘ve imagined.”

Majd has completed both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in prison and was chosen by prisoners to direct the education department in Gilboa prison as well as to help youngsters complete their high school matriculation exams.

“So many former prisoners from Jerusalem visit us after their release and tell us about Majd’s generosity, his support for them, how he changed their lives and encouraged them to resume their education,” Fatimah said. “I cannot help but feel a little envious because many of these prisoners had the chance to live with Majd more than I did. My children see their father through these prisoners’ eyes and stories.”

Zeina, now 16, only has a single photograph with her father, a snap taken when, after many failed attempts, the Israel Prison Service finally agreed to allow them to take a photo together without the glass barrier.

Fatimah has worked extremely hard to make up for Majd’s absence, but there are times when the void feels enormous. Last Friday, their son Muntasser, nearly 18, celebrated his graduation from high school. Muntasser asked his mother not to cry during the ceremony and she respected his wish, but Majd’s absence at that moment was “gut-wrenching.”

Majd is also on hunger strike. The news since has been patchy. Fatimah was informed by Majd’s lawyer that, along with all PFLP prisoners in Gilboa prison, he had suspended the hunger strike two weeks after 17 April only to resume it again last week.

“I received contrasting accounts regarding what exactly happened with the hunger strike in Gilboa prison,” Fatimah said. “But regardless, I will continue to participate in solidarity actions with the prisoners and remain close to wives and mothers of hunger strikers. A victory for this hunger strike is a victory for all prisoners, and all Palestinians.”

Budour Youssef Hassan is a Palestinian writer based in Jerusalem. She blogs at budourhassan.wordpress.com.